South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1887-04-29

The revival Of the question a. a n.
authorship OF Hugh Conway. novels
ana the production Of evidence bv hi.
executors that the last story of ali
Living or Dead. was completed s;gb'
teen months before his deith recalls to
me another case in which the same
question could not be 80 satisfactor;Iv
answered Some time ago received
letter from firm of lawyers in lin.
co'as Inn Fields, who occupv the
house next door to that which Dickens
describes AZ the residence of .Mr.
lnikinghorn." cit isyiet off in sets Of
Chambers now, and in the fragments OF
ITS greatness lawyers lie like maggots in
nuts. They said that they had been
referred to me by Q London publisher
ana that their object in writing was To
inquire II they could not obtain through
me some redress for client who was
'ne victim OF great injustice. This
cilent' q lady, was the author Of largo
number OF very popular stories, to
which she was constantly adm
through the columns of some sncb na'
per as the Family Herald, and "a fast
as they appeared there they were stolen
by similar story paper in New York
IGo injustice did not end here. for.
while they were issued ANONYMOUSLY in
London, the pirates in New York at
tributed them to Bertha NJ. Claw. n
nctitious name which they had invented
and used withou. the sanction or knowl-
euge OF the victimized author.
Now could 1. they required, suggest
any means b. which the lady, who was
nm Invalid, with large fam lv de-
pendent upon her. could induce tho
pirates to surrender some of their
sspoiis? She did not want "back paw
Out hoped that sonc arranpcme,k
could be made by which she mirSe
profit by futrr. works. In proof of
the valde ut which her work was hcks.
the lawyers inc'osed q column adver-
t.sment from the TriDuns. setting
forth as ra extraordinary attra ton
me opening of new serial bv the
Bertha NJ. Clay" aforesaid. l at once
communicated with the guilty publish
ers IN New York. and to my surprise a
member OF the firm, "the mildest man
nered man" ETC.. immediately came to
Boston to sec me on the subject. He
admitted thnt they had invented a
name for the author because they had
deemed it advisable to have the stories
attr; buted to some person, if only the
shadow OF O nom de plume: but they
mad always paid for the stories In a
most handsome manner. Whom had
they paid? Why, the publ sher of the
paper In which the stories appeared in
London. l was amazed at the sums
mentioned, which were four or five
times as great for these cry sensational
stories as they would have been for
genuine literary work; but we all know
too well that blood and thunder are
still more marketable than any other
commodities that may be purchased in
Grub street. Some further CORE
spondence showed that the remittances
from New York had been quietly pock-
eted by the London publisher. who
pleaded as justification that he paid
the author fixed sum per annum, prac-
tically a salary, for the exclusive con-
troll OF her work, and he considered
that this included the American as well
as the English market. The arrange
ment was profitable to him certainly.
for the amounts he received from Amer.
lea were larger than her salary, and
thus he had the use of her stories in his
own paper for nothing.
L succeeded in establishing direct
relationship between her and the New
York firm, but it had scarcely been eff
tected when she died. The similarity
between this case and Hugh Conway'sn
Is that though her death occurred
nearly three years ago, new stories bv
Bertha Nj. Clay" are constantly ap-
pearing; and rs know she left no COM
pleted work behind her, wonder who
it is that still carries on the business"
-Ne,c York Critic.